Return of the Darkness
by Speedy3303
Summary: With the second keyblade war was finally over everyone returned to their own homes, slowly settling back into normality, while everyone has been forever changed by these past events, no one has changed as much as her. *Currently on Hiatus*
1. Chapter 1

With the second keyblade war was finally over everyone returned to their own homes, slowly settling back into normality, while everyone has been forever changed by these past events, no one has changed as much as _'her'._

Its been 3 weeks since their return to Land of Departure, they had finally mourned their Master properly, leaving his keyblade embedded in the ground, covered in flowers and with 3 hand crafted wayfinders of blue, green and orange overlooking the landscape of their home. They had watch the stars together that night, the three huddled in a blanket, promising to always be together.

However, all good things must come to an end.

It happened in the second week of their return, _'her',_ Aqua, had started acting 'strange' as Terra had put it. Not that it had gone unnoticed by the two boys, she'd hardly spar with either of them, she'd sit on a rock supposedly to watch the two boys spar. Terra would watch her out of the corner of his eye while blocking Ven's attacks, but more often than not Aqua's head would be bowed down staring at her hands, clenching the black fabric of her shorts tightly, wincing, as if in pain. Terra would try asking again and again if she was indeed 'Okay' with only her response being a 'I'm fine' with fake smile plastered on her face, abruptly standing up and walking back to her room, they usually wouldn't see her again till dinner.

However this was not the only incident of Aqua's shift in behaviour. More of often than not they'd find her staring, a blank look on her face, frozen, she could almost pass for statue save for the rise and fall of her chest and the blinking of blue eyes every few moments. They had found her like that in the kitchen one morning she did not hear them, she did not see them, she didn't even acknowledge the rough shakes of her shoulders. She was off in another world. The boys waited flashing worried looks to each other, her hands started shaking, her breathing becoming ragged, she jumped as if woken from a nightmare, only then coming back to her sense of where she was. The blunette looked up to see two faces stricken with worry and felt a small pair of arms wrap around her middle, she looked down confused to see a mound of spiky blonde hair, 'Ventus, yes that's his name. How could I forget?' The girl brought a shaky hand out to ruffle the boys hair while her other arms snaked around his middle to return his hug. She stared at Terra's mix of worried and relieved face and muttered a 'sorry' and that she was just tired, then retreated to her room leaving both boys, fear creeping back into their faces as they watched her go.

Though their was one incident Ventus had witnessed that he would not tell Terra about, what Ven saw as a 'big brother' was worrying enough as it is not to mention Terra would feel a pang of guilt every time he saw Aqua, believing he was responsible for what was wrong with her. Having been asleep for more than a decade, Ventus would often wonder the great halls of his home or lay on the grass of the training grounds and watch the night sky, this night however someone had already beat him to it. Aqua was already there standing on the edge of the training grounds, staring at the distance, one hand placed over her chest chest while the other clenched and relaxed at her side every few moments. Ventus walked up to her, making sure not to startle her.

"Aqua! What are you doing out here?" Ventus asked, suppressing a shiver, putting his hands under his arms to keep warm, it was a cold out and yet, Aqua wasn't even effected by it.

"Couldn't sleep" was her only reply, not even turning her head to look at him.

"Oh, but aren't you cold? Maybe we could go back inside and sneak a night snack in the kitchen like we used to?" Ventus wore an eager smile cracked with worry of what Aqua's answer would be.

A moment past. Aqua sighed, "Sure Ven" she turned to him, "you run and get a head start I'll meet you there" she gave him a small smile.

Only then did he see how pale she was, eyes black from lack of sleep, her eyebrows creased. Ventus tried not to let his concerns show as he gave her a toothy grin nodding his head at her.

He turned to head back, however he wasn't going back inside just yet. He quickly hid behind some of the training equipment turning his attention to Aqua, her back was turned to him, he suddenly saw her double over, a scream of pain releasing from closed lips trying to suppress the sound. Her knees collapsed under her, hand clenching her stomach while the other mangled itself in the grass twisting and ripping it from the ground, she bit her lip till it drew blood letting out small grunts of pain. Ventus watched on with horror, he saw her stand back up slowly and quickly fled to the kitchen as Aqua was about to make her way back. He didn't see the mix of blood and black ooze dripping down Aqua's chin as she wiped it clean.

**Notes:**

Hey! I'm brand new to writing fanfictions but decided this could be fun, not sure where this story will go though i have plans for chap. 2. I also dunno if i should write the scene of Aqua and Ven in the kitchen or not so if some people wanna see it i can do so. Also this obviously takes place after KH3 and I have not finished it yet about to go fight Aqua now and will probably shed some tears. Anyway if you've read the story i hope you all enjoy it!


	2. Chapter 2

Ven sprang into the kitchen, almost slipping on the kitchen tiles before reaching the doors of the fridge and yanking them open. His eyes darted every direction for the glassed bottle of milk, 'Aqua and I always used to make hot chocolate together, I hope she's in the mood' his all too shaky hands grabbed the bottle and hugging it close with enough pressure just shy of breaking it into pieces.

"Calm down Ven" he mumbled to himself, "Aqua's not sick, Aqua's not sick..." he had hoped if he told himself that enough times maybe he'd actually believe it.

Sound of shattering glass broke Ven out of his trance, his hands shook too violently he let the bottle fall, broken glass littered the tiles, milk slowly spreading across the floor, 'broken...i-is Aqua broken too?' Ven shook his head as if he could shake the dreaded thought away and bent down attempting to clean up his mess he was met with a gash to his finger for comfort.

"Stupid glass!" He all but screamed, but that didn't stop him from trying to pick up the shards, 'if I can fix this, maybe I can fix Aqua too, I can put her back together again!' Ven didn't notice the multitudes of small cuts now covering his hands and fingers nor did he hear the rapid sound of bare footed skin smacking the tiled floor or the small gasp and shout of his name.

"Ven!" Aqua pulled him away from the mess, turning his face to look at hers while she grabbed his ruined hands assessing the damage.

The room was silent, Ven just stared at Aqua, this was the first time since they came back that he had seen the Aqua he used to know, the over-protective and caring Aqua that was like a big sister or mother to him, but then he saw the Aqua that was just crouched on all fours coughing and spluttering outside a few minutes ago. He couldn't help but choke out a sob.

Aqua's head jerked up immediately, "Ventus? Hey, what's wrong!?"

"D-don't leave me please!" He threw his arms around Aqua's middle, face hidden at her abdomen, she tensed up at the sudden contact.

"What?"

"S-stay, I-I... you can't go!"

"Ventus." She pulled back and titled his chin up, wiping his tears with her thumb, giving him a sad smile, "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm not leaving you."

"Y-you p-promise?"

Aqua stilled at that, to be honest she wasn't sure she could keep that promise, 'If I get worse then...' she shook her head evading the thought, now was not the time. Instead, she pulled Ven into a tight embrace, his head resting over her heart while she rested her head on top of his unruly spiky hair.

They sat here like that for hours until Ven's cries had subsided, Aqua peered over at Ven, he was out cold, though tears still lingered his cheeks.

Aqua sighed, "I'm sorry Ven. I didn't mean for you to worry." She had figured this had something to do with how distanced she had been to the two boys, she'd felt guilty for Ven especially, he was equivalent to kicking a puppy if she was to be honest.

Light was starting to creep into the kitchen, she sighed again, it was almost dawn, the girl looked back down, she couldn't bring herself to wake the sleeping boy so she gathered him in her arms, making sure his head rested on her shoulder and hoisted herself up, letting out a wince as her chest flared with a stab of pain.

Ignoring the cold numbness that followed, she had managed to tuck Ven into bed, giving him a light kiss on the head before turning her way back to her own room to try and rest herself.

Its been three weeks since their returned and Aqua had not stepped out of her room for the last five days. She no longer ate. Terra had cooked and brought up meals to her room, leaving it outside her bedroom door as she now always had it locked. However he was always left to clean up a plate of untouched food everyday.

Not to say her room was always locked.

The two boys had came into her room one morning as she had not come down for breakfast suspecting that she must've slept in, she had been doing that a lot recently, however they both stopped mid-step at the noise of hacking and gagging coming from the girls room. Terra was the first to act and quickly barged in, freezing in place at seeing the state of whatever was left of Aqua's room. Every mirror had seemed to be shattered, blood lingered on broken shards, furniture either broken or dented as if it had been punched and kicked several times, curtains ripped from it's pole, left in a heap and - 'was that more blood!?' The call of Aqua's names from Ven's lips brought Terra back to his senses and scrambled towards the bathroom door careful not to trip over any obstacles of broken furniture on his way.

Ven's eyes were already glossy, brimming with tears while he banged a fist against the wooden door, pleading for Aqua to open up. The sounds of gags and chokes could be heard behind the door.

"Aqua! Please, open up! Please! P-Please!" The poor boy was stuttering.

Terra has seen enough.

He gently pulled the distraught Ven by the shoulders and braced himself to kick the door down himself until he heard the sound of a door unlocking. Terra took a step back, putting an arm around Ven who was still choking on sobs. The door creaked, only opening a small gap, enough to see one half of Aqua's face and nothing more, it didn't stop the boys from noticing her almost snow white skin nor the dark bags under her one eye. 'She's gotton worse' Ven noted, bringing another sob, a fee hiccups in between. Terra only held him tighter.

Terra sighed, slowly moving his gaze to focus on Aqua. "Aqua, let us help you please, we both know your sick, allow us to -

"Leave." Just one word. It held no emotion in it. She gave both boys one hard look then locked the door once again.

They don't know how long they stood there for, Ven's sobs had gradually turned into more silent tears, a few hiccups in between and Terra's shirt was soaked through with Ven's tears. 'Must've been a while then, but Aqua still hasn't come back out and I haven't heard her make a sound since'.

Terra was worried. Very worried.

With no indication of Aqua opening the door again for the time being, the boys turned to leave. Terra caught a roll of bandage on top of Aqua's bed, some used blood stained bandages covered the floor beneath her bed. 'Whatever your doing Aqua, at least your trying to look after yourself. But why won't you accept any help from us?' Terra sighed again, averting his gaze and followed Ven towards the door. The minute they got back out into the hallway they heard the turn of a lock behind them.

Aqua hadn't opened the door again since.


	3. Chapter 3

"Terra what do we do? Aqua hasn't come out of her room in almost a week! She won't even answer me behind her door anymore...she's starving herself T-Terra."

Terra looked over his shoulder to Ven and sighed. 'He hasn't stopped crying once this week, he deserves better. Actually, we all do. Everything was suppose to go back to how they were before, we were suppose to heal together, get better together, but Aqua, she's getting worse every day.'

Before Terra could even think of a response to calm the boy they heard the sound of a ship landing at the courtyard.

"Huh? Oh! That must be Kairi!" Ven practically sprang from his chair and ran outside, tears forgotten for the time being.

"Least that'll keep him occupied for a while." Terra mused, chuckling at his friends childish antics.

Kairi had been visiting the Land of Departure weekly. After both her and Aqua has discovered she was accidentally bequeathed as a child, Aqua had decided to follow through and take Kairi under her wing for more training.

"Maybe this'll coax Aqua enough to leave her room today." It was a foolish thought Terra knew that, but still, one could hope.

"Hi Terra! Is Master Aqua with you?" the young red head chirped.

Both Terra and Ven cringed at that.

"Actually Kairi Master Aqua has been...ill for the past few days."

"She hasn't left her room since,she won't eat, she won't even answer me and Terra..." Ven whispered the last part out, bowing his head, focusing on his armoured shoes instead.

"Oh... I'm sorry. Hey, do you think I could try talk to her? It probably won't do much, but it's worth a try, right?"

Both boys nodded a small smile on their faces at the red heads enthusiasm. "Sure Kairi, and could you bring this up to her as well please?"

Terra handed her a tray of food, 'smells pretty good too!' "Sure, I'll see you guys in a bit." Both boys felt a bit brighter, hope returning to their hearts as Kairi rose up the stairs.

Three knocks, "Master Aqua? It's Kairi, I brought you some breakfast. May I come in please?" Nothing but silence answered her.

Kairi sighed, leaving the tray on the marbled floor, moving towards the staircase when suddenly she heard a scream come from Aqua's room. The girl scrambled to the front door, banging a fist against the cold wood.

"Master Aqua? Master Aqua!?"

Aqua's screams continued to fill Kairi's ears until they abruptly stopped. Kairi gasped and summoned her keyblade 'I know I'm not suppose to abuse the keyblade's power, but this is an emergency.' She took a step back and aimed her keyblade, light shooting directly into the lock, unlocking it. Wasting no time Aqua burst through the door, she almost wished she hadn't.

Never had Kairi seen Aqua look so weak. Her skin was paper white, her lips lost of any colour, her once bright blue hair was now dark, covered in grease, her tank top drenched in sweat. Not only that, she was thinner, far too thin. Her shoulder blades were completely visible underneath her skin, you could easily count each rip sticking out from under her top, her arms even shook as she tried to hold herself up, her entire body shaking with every cough and hack. The girls Master started heaving - 'black ooze?' Kairi's eyes widened 'And was that blood!?'

'She's _dying_...' was Kairi's sudden realisation.

The girl let out a whimper, traumatised of what had become of her Master, and that was when Aqua finally noticed someone was in the room with her. Pulling her crumpled form to stand was getting harder each day '_Weakling_' a voice whispered, "Shut up" Aqua grumbled back, smacking the side of her head to knock the voice out, it still hadn't worked for her. She didn't dare turn to face Kairi, she had seen the hurt she'd caused on Terra and Vens faces too many times, she didn't want to see Kairi with the same expression.

"Why are you here?" Aqua cringed at the coldness of her voice which caused the younger girl to take a step back.

"I-I, for training M-Master"

"There is no training." 'Refusing to teach? You were never worthy of being a keyblade master..' the voice whispered again, a shiver went down her back, "Get out."

"But Master your sick! At least allow me to-

"I said get out!" All but burst out of the blunettes mouth, tendrils of darkness starting to leak out of her body, the sight caused the red head flinch but she did not make an exit.

"N-no...I can't leave you like this, your gonna-

The girl was caught off by a tight first now holding her by the throat, she felt nails - no, _claws_ dig into her skin, her feet left dangling in the air, with her hands grasping and scratching the arm holding her up. She swore she saw Aqua's eyes flash gold for a moment.

"Leave me alone!" Aqua wasn't sure if she was talking to Kairi or the multiple voices screaming in her head, maybe it was both.

The claw released its grip dropping the young apprentice to her knees gasping for breath before she bolted out of her masters room, gliding down the staircase. She could already feel her neck bruising from the harsh abuse.

As she saw her apprentice flee Aqua's hands were soon getting tangled in her filthy hair, yanking it. '_Monster_' '_Demon_' '_You should have stayed in the Darkness_...' The girl let out a cry of frustration, slamming her fist into her already broken table. Only then did she notice the tints of red at her fingertips, the blacking of skin traveling up her arm. An all too familiar feeling.

'_Only your heart is hallow enough to be a Demons_' Her breathing became erect, her vision blurring as she scrambled to her bathroom, a stab of pain ran through her chest causing her to double lever in pain once again. Quickly finding the mirror, shaky hands slowly pulled off her sweat drenched top, her eyes widening at the sight in front of her.

Black jagged veins riddled her body, branching off from where her hearts was. Already making their way up her neck and down her thighs, every pulse of pain from her chest would only cause the veins to move further across her body. Her fingers following the trails marred on her bare skin.

"What is happening to me?" Voice breaking as she finally aloud herself to cry.

**Notes: **

I'm not sure how long I'll take to keep this story updated, I'll aim for once a week though, hopefully. I also wnt to thank everyone who has follwed and reviewed this story so far thank you all so much!

If anyones would like to DM me on story directions or if I can make the characters better feel free to tell me!

On a side note anyone see the Frozen 2 trailer that dropped a few hours ago? I saw tons of comments saying Elsa is in the Realm of Darkness they made me laugh XD


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